Giving Compass' Take:

• The Center for Catalyzing Change (C3) launched a campaign in 2018 to better understand the health needs of India's youngest population. 

• The campaign indicates that young people in India want healthcare to improve and have a broad understanding of their health needs and well-being. How can donors help address these concerns? 

• Learn how the job crisis in India severely affects youth and women.

With an estimated 600 million people below the age of 25, India has the largest youth population in the world. While this rise in working age population (15 to 64 years) is expected to generate exponential increases in productivity and economic growth, we need to keep in mind that a demographic transition alone does not automatically create a productive workforce.

And while India has been pushing youth-targeted programmes (aimed at employment and skilling), young people’s voices have been missing from the discussion. Youth under 18 know what they want, but cannot make their voices heard as they cannot vote and lack political representation. Consequently, work happens in the name and interest of young people, but doesn’t represent their actual social, economic, and political ambitions.

Breaking away from this often paternalistic treatment of young people, the Center for Catalyzing Change (C3), launched the YouthBol campaign in 2018, in an attempt to understand the health and well-being related needs and aspirations of young Indians. They asked young people one open-ended question: “For my physical and mental health and well-being, I want…”

Better healthcare infrastructure emerged as a top priority, with approximately 36 percent of surveyed youth saying it was crucial to their health and well-being.

A key insight from the YouthBol report is that young adults don’t think of their health and well-being in a vacuum. As a result, their demands went beyond the traditional understanding of health to include areas such as education, jobs, the environment, and socio-economic conditions, among others.

Read the full article about young India demanding better health by Saahil Kejriwal at India Development Review.